Four prestigious development studios and games technology company Geomerics, all based in Cambridge, have been shortlisted as finalists for the Develop Industry Excellence Awards, due to take place on Wednesday July 25th 2007 at the Hilton Metropole, Brighton.
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Barack and I, we have a connection. We’re both oreos from Hawaii. (Or I guess you’d call us coconuts, now wouldn’t you?) White people love him, white people love me, you get the idea. But his stance on video games, man that brother is cold.

We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children, and that’s going to take some time.

Put the video games away?! Obama, the only way I can connect with the black community is by playing 50 Cent’s terrible game about being part of a gang. That’s the only reason I bought it, so I don’t seem like a regular person with a chocolate exterior. Without it, black people are going to judge me by the content of my [white] character and isn’t that the opposite of what MLK Jr would want?

Barack Obama: ‘Parents should clamp down on games’ [MCVuk]

Would you let your kids (or future kids) play video games? If you’re Giles Whittell of The Times then your answer is a commanding “NO!”. I don’t hate him for his anti-video game stance. At least, not this time. Rather my main ‘beef’ with this guy is over his reason for not allowing his deprived offspring of the sweet succulent nectar that is Haze video games.

I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them.

You could just as easily replace video games with any entertainment medium and alter a few words in the paragraph to say anything. Books, movies, music, you name it, he could hate it. From what I can tell, he’s an anti-video game fanboy. An irrational hatred of something he probably has never owned and talks crap about it. I thought such acts were designated for internet douchebags and comedy writers. Makes you wonder what he spends his time doing, besides writing. Maybe that’s all he does.

Video games: I’ll never buy one [Times Online]

While staying at a hotel, have you ever said to yourself “Man, this 4-star hotel stucks. There’s no video games!” Then you’re not alone. I too hate staying at places without games. The Westin chain of hotels is looking to cure what ails us. They’re currently in talks with Nintendo about setting up some wiis in their hotels so gamers angry customers will quit their bitchin’. But if you can’t wait, there are other hotels currently offering life-sustaining gaming.

The fitness center at Manhattan’s Le Parker Meridien has a customized Nintendo Wii console (games are preloaded and can’t be pirated). Guests and non-guests work out with a trainer on Wii tennis or boxing projected off a racquetball court wall ($120 an hour) or rent the console to play solo or with pals ($50 hourly).

Holy $#@!, with prices like that you can buy the system yourself. **** that!

Some hotels use action electronics to encourage mingling. “Guitar Hero” — instrumental karaoke in which participants cradle fake guitars and play along with a rock soundtrack via color-coded notes that appear on a TV screen — is striking a chord at the Hotel Monaco Seattle. The Friday playoffs during the hotel’s complimentary social hour, using Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game system, are so popular that general manager Sandy Burkett is thinking of hosting “Hero” Saturdays, too.

There we go. PWNing newbs at Guitar Hero is a great way to wind down after a long hard day of doing whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing while you’re away from home.

It’s game time as hotels bring Wii, Xbox into play [Honolulu Advertiser]

When it rains, it pours. Aussies, your Attorney General wants to hear your views on video games. (Hint: They’re awesome) Should restrictions on violent video games be released? You’re lucky that your government actually asks you questions about these things. Here in America (Land of the Free) people just come up with dumb $#@! for us. (That’s what we pay them for, right?) Here’s a political/video-game idea. Why don’t we have direct representative democracy in terms of video game matters? It makes perfect sense. The government should just release a poll on their website (They have a website, right?) And allow us geeks citizens the chance to vote on whether video games should be taxed and stuff like that. Crazy, huh?

Views sought on video game ratings [ABC News]

Got some trouble past experiences with video games and violence? A UK magazine wants to give you money for those stories. How much money? Hundreds of pounds. (Which is like hundreds of thousands of US dollars….I think) Looks like the Blame Gamers First crowd will stop at nothing to ban on happiness. Although, for hundreds of pounds, I think I’d be willing to fake a few vicious stories. I mean, think of all the video games I could buy. (What if this is all some scheme to put violent gamers behind bars?)

Newspaper offers cash for anti-games story [mcvuk.com]

Some douchebags lawmakers think that you should be taxed for playing too many video games. Now I’m no fancy politician but that makes about as much sense as putting a tax on breathing.

State Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Bernalillo) has introduced in the legislature a new tax measure, House Bill 583, that would force consumers to pay a 1 percent excise tax on purchases of video games, gaming consoles, and TVs.

1 percent?! Why don’t they just take away my kidneys, those blood suckers!!!

The revenue generated from the game and TV tax would be used to fund a new state educational effort aimed at getting kids out of the house. True to the aim of the measure, introduced in January, the sponsors have even given the bill the creative title, “The Leave No Child Inside Act.”

Here’s a more creative title, Douchebags Do Stupid $#@! Act. New Mexico gamers, it’s your duty to send letters to your rep telling them how bad an idea this is! Today it’s games, but what if tomorrow it’s your anime collection? We gotta stop these guys now, before it’s too late!

New Mexico Considers Video Game Nanny Tax [Heartland.org]

Alright parents, we get it, you care about your kids. You care about your kids so much, you’ll let them wander the internet unattended and you’ll buy whatever game they tell you, even if that game is titled Decapitation Gore City: Sexy Hookers Edition. If we’re going to jump on the Ban Wagon, then we’d better not half-@$$ this. Grab all those R rated movies of yours and toss em. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Done? Whaddya mean you refuse to do it?! Fine, it’s clear to me that you care more about Sharon Stone and Steven Segal than you do your own children. Fine, I’ve got a better idea. I’ll educate you. (Be me, I mean steal Telegraph’s tips and claim them as mine own with only a slight reference to them at the bottom of the list) It must be embarrassing to be taught by someone so much younger than yourself but life is a bitch. Alright, lets get started.

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That’s basically what the chaps across the ocean are saying. Video games are as dangerous as drugs and should be treated like such. Us blokes here in America know what that’s like. Each game is rated and tagged, like a piece of meat. The worst part is that all these rating $#@! means the government is gonna spend more of your hard-earned cash just to fund it. You wanna know who I blame? Dumb parents and selfish kids. It’s only a matter of time until the world starts looking like 1984, or V For Vendetta.

Computer games to get cigarette-style health warnings [TimesOnline]

One of my complaints about libraries is that there are too many books and not enough video games. Luckily Storm Lake Public Library is taking my suggestion and running with it by setting up events for popular video games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution (?). Of course it’s only a matter of time until old people come around and complain about how libraries are for reading or some stupid $#@! like that. Regardless, this is the best thing to happen to libraries since, well, they existed. The only downside I can see to this is having to put up with those annoying neighborhood kids. If I may make a suggestion, put the games in separate rooms, one room for the kiddies another for the adults.

We’re not the only ones who think games can be an art form, so does Carnegie Mellon University. Instead of just raiding game forums and spouting “STFU!!!Games are art!!!” rhetoric, they’re one-uping us by co-hosting the two-day event of games.

The symposium brings together game developers, artists and researchers to explore creativity in game design and gaming as an expressive medium.

Highlights include “The Art of Play Arcade,” an exhibition where participants can play both independently and commercially created games, along with tours of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center.

I’d love to attend but I’m way too busy playing COD4. Hey, what if they hooked up some PS360s up with some COD4? Then it could be like a lan party or something.